In the skies over Triton, near Kōri City…
"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!"
Hearing that whoop of delight from the skies overhead, Oyuki could only smile. "My, Kamen! Benten really likes the new airbike you got her!"
"Well, it was a good peace offering after Relota wrecked the old one," Shigaten Kamen said as she relaxed in the back of the flitter the crown princess of Neptune was piloting over the ice fields of Neptune's largest moon well to the west of the Kingdom's capital city. Triton's mother planet loomed past the horizon, appearing to be an angry god of sorts. Unseen by the people currently having some fun going on a flitter/hovercycle drive for an afternoon picnic in the sherbet fields, the smallest of the four gas giants in the solar system bore terrible scars from over-industrialisation unleashed on Neptune's habitable zones by the hordes of the Seifukusu Dominion a millennia ago. Finding a way to reclaim their true homeworld had driven Neptunians for years. And — to Oyuki's considerable shock, even now! — thanks to a man she never really cared for or respected, her people were within a hair's breadth of GETTING it.
"Onē-sama, stop that," a gentle voice scolded from beside her. "What's happened has happened. Letting your guilt influence you won't do anyone here any good."
Oyuki sighed. "Hai, Mienai, you're right," she said as she gazed on her virtual genetic twin, now seated beside her. Unlike the crown princess/heiress apparent to the Throne of Kōri, the Neptunian-form Avalonian university student was dressed in a warm-suit, which was common for those of Oyuki's people to use after spending years away from their homeworld…as Mienai had done for five years after her awakening on the Home Base asteroid when a certain fellow brought four "robots" to the headquarters of the famous Vosian expat bounty hunter Nassur as a way of providing perfect "living targets" to protect Redet Lum, Shigaten Benten, Aruka Ran and Oyuki from anyone who might wish to threaten and/or kill them. "It still is much to take in…"
"Chill, 'Yuki," Kamen said. Like her sister Avalonians, the Fukunokami-form girl was in a warm-suit, stylised in her adopted family's colours. She also had the hair and sash chains marking her as a part of Clan Shigaten. "That's why we did what we did. Tryin' to talk normally to people like Lum's old man is like tryin' to talk to a wall made out of pure neutronium. You need shock tactics to make that dork wake up."
"Not to mention others," Mienai noted.
Oyuki sighed, nodding. It had been quite the shock a week after they had been forced off Earth — by Infinity, the most powerful of They-Who-Must-Never-Be-Named, no less! — when, at the Invader home on Uru, Lum's despondent parents and worried friends were visited by three clone-bioroid REPLICAS of those self-same friends, all of whom bore a message from Moroboshi Ataru:
I'm tired of being forced to play your "games," Fat Boy! Now you'll play the game MY way. When you learn something called "civilised behaviour," you'll see Lum again!
THAT had stunned Redet Invader, though he had immediately moved to arrange for an all-out attack on Earth to rescue his daughter…though that had been killed right then and there when Kamen had forced him to read the note Lum had written:
How DARE you never tell me about Hensō, Daddy?! You actually LISTENED to that monster Ōgi when he tried to sell his "robot doubles" to Nassur-cha?! And you never listened to Nassur-cha and Cinba-cha when they tried to tell you the truth about them?! It's NO WONDER that I can't talk to Nassur-cha anymore! At least Darling is willing to help finally get RID of that monster and his moronic "church" once and for all! Don't you DARE tell anyone this is happening! If you do, I'll never speak to you again!
THAT had done it.
And things had changed.
Oyuki's father King Fuyu — after getting a good blast of righteous motherly wrath from his wife, Queen Samui — had formally adopted Mienai as part of their family and made her a crown princess of Neptune, putting her second-in-line to the throne after her sister. Benten's adopted father Shigaten Hotei — after getting a good dose of what was coming to him thanks to his wife, Miroku — had gladly adopted Kamen into the family as well…though on Fukunokami, people had to earn their place in government and the military before being awarded high political office. Ran had been totally overwhelmed on learning about her Avalonian sister Damasu; Invader — atop properly adopting Lum's own twin Hensō into the family — had seen to it that Damasu had been added into the Noble Scrolls for the Aruka House as Ran's sister. And as Lum had demanded, all the parents had been sworn to total secrecy concerning the BIGGER issue lurking like a dark cloud over the existences of their adopted children.
The Avalonians.
Oyuki sighed. To believe that the predecessor race to the Maidens of the Eternal Voyager had actually created a BIOROID FACTORY to see if it was possible for a society to develop without the necessity of having to participate in natural birthing processes to allow it to continue. Said society hadn't got much of a start until the mother race on Sagussa, a world beyond the Galactic Barrier…and thus beyond the reach of any of the space-faring races close to Earth, had destroyed themselves in an awful civil war. Thus, the factory had remained dormant on Phentax Twelve until it had been discovered a hundred years ago by an expedition from the second world of that three-star, twenty-five planet system. And with its discovery, had given the Niphentaxians a perfect source of cheap labour —especially of the SEXUAL kind! — to exploit to their hearts content. After blinding themselves, of course, to the fact that the Avalonians were biological androids and not robotic androids or synthezoids.
Except one man.
Ganzo dai-Louc.
To believe that Ataru was so easily swayed by the "Arch-Heretic" himself when they first met on Okusei, Oyuki mused as she slowed the flitter down to where Benten had landed her new hovercycle — it was built with Sagussan levels of technology with an on-board A.I. that was programmed to ensure its rider remained unharmed — at an observation lookout over the sherbet fields, where hundreds of the little creatures were fluttering around their nests and the ice flowers feeding and socialising with each other. Then again, in one sense of the term, it would make sense. Avalonians are all women — and quite healthy ones at that, if the pictures of Ataru's new sisters say anything about what can be made from that place, the princess then added with a grin. Well, at least ONE part of Lum's would-be husband hasn't really changed…!
"How'd it ride, Aneki?" Kamen asked as she hopped out of the flitter.
"Like a dream!" Benten said as she allowed her sister to hug her. Sensing the flood of love and caring surge through her body from Kamen's made the biker-babe — unlike Kamen, Benten had let to consider a future career in life — shudder with delight as her new body's powers moved to respond. "That is so fuckin' weird…"
"Chill! You'll get used to it soon enough," Kamen assured her as Ran and Damasu — the Seishin-Urusian had also undergone a "body-swap;" Oyuki had turned Mienai's offer for such down…for now — got out of the flitter as Oyuki and her sister turned things off. "Hey, Ran! You okay? You've been quiet since we left Okusei."
Ran sighed. "I'm still feeling out of sorts, Kamen. Thanks for asking."
Kamen nodded in understanding. Given the problems Ran had endured in her childhood — a dead father, an abusive mother, a childhood friend that was always getting her into trouble (thus provoking more abuse from said mother) and getting a crush on a walking eating machine who seemed to care only for his stomach — it had been hard for Damasu to be able to live her own life once she was moved to Okusei and got the chance to chart her own life's course. Fortunately, sister Avalonians — all of them Noukiite-born, members of the legendary Flower Youth of the Guardian Order — had been there to help Damasu adjust to the point where she was able to advance into graduate university studies in xenobiology. She hadn't found a potential bond-mate — none of the four girls created under Project: Kamen had been blessed that way — or a child-mate, but they were on the lookout for such warm companions.
As the girls moved to prepare their picnic, several of the sherbets fluttered over to see who these strange humans were and what they were doing. Immediately, the empathic warmth being projected by Kamen, Mienai and Damasu — and to a lesser extent by Benten and Ran — made them all moved to land on their shoulders, which made the girls gasp in surprise before they relaxed as tasty offerings were made to them by the small avians. "Well, they seem to like you all," Oyuki said as she held out a hand for one sherbet to land on so she could have her own cone. "Is that natural?"
"Depends on the type of animal," Damasu stated. "I've conversed with all sorts of beings, right up to the ch'uokyek themselves — haven't met an ib'f from Yehisril, much less any of the lifeforms on planets like Yiziba…"
Benten, Oyuki and Ran all shrieked on hearing that name! "Damn it, Damasu! DON'T SAY THAT NAME!" Benten snarled out at Ran's twin. "What are you trying to do?!"
"What?" Damasu stated as she gave the Fukunokami an annoyed look. "Honestly, Benten! Do you believe that every time someone mentions that planet's name, some heel's going to show up to really try to ruin your day?" A shake of the head. "Remember, you're SAMES to the Yizibajohei!" She ignored the yelp from her sister and her friends on saying THAT word. "That means you're all at a genetic DEAD END! No self-respecting Yizibajohei…" — another scream — "…wouldn't be caught dead interacting with a same of all things!" She then hummed. "Unless it's someone like Relota-san. Then again, being Infinity does open one's eyes…"
"So it was Infinity who teleported us off Earth, right?" Oyuki asked.
"Hai! And it was Nengmek'i who barbecued you all on Uru after you ran into that airhead who calls Darling 'Honey,'" Kamen stated. "He's sorry about that, but given what was going on with Hensō — Lyna! Given what was going on inside Darling's own HEAD! — there was just no time to be nice! It was grab and go!"
The others nodded. While accepting that being nearly killed by someone for some odd reason or another was par for the course — as the heiress apparent to the throne of her own world (Oyuki), the adopted daughter of a major clan leader on her planet (Benten), the practically-orphaned daughter of a major house leader on her planet (Ran) and the daughter of another major house leader on the same planet (Lum), being either kidnapped, attacked with lethal intent or just being grossly inconvenienced was normal for all of them — that it had been one of the legendary Heavenly Dragons of Noukiios that had done it was peculiar. The Noukiites were properly polite with the worlds of the Galactic Federation but weren't really friendly with them; then again, the Imperial Dominion was a galactic superpower in its own right and had superpower-sized problems to go along with it. "So how is Lum-chan, anyway?" Oyuki asked. "Much that I can see you all trust this Negako woman when it comes to helping Lum-chan recover from what the Old Lady of the Oak Forest ultimately did to her, we do want to see her."
"Though I understand why Moroboshi doesn't want us to show up in that ass-wipe of a hometown of his," Benten added as she slurped a sherbet cone. "Way dorks like Mendō and Megane's goons act around her — at least, from what I saw — it's a wonder to me that Moroboshi didn't decide to drop-kick 'em on their asses long ago!"
"Well, he was tempted when he got back from Okusei," Damasu stated. "But at that time, they had just moved the factory satellite from Den'sha Two over to Venus and had only built a small number of ships to help protect the planet. If Darling had gone out and kicked the Niphentaxians off the planet, plus removed that bomb, then…"
The others shuddered. "Stupid asshole!" Benten snapped. "I can understand why everyone wants to keep the Niphentaxians on our side 'cause of the Ipraedies and the Seifukusu and all that…but to let 'em put a fuckin' COBALT BOMB on a planet they don't even own?! And all to make sure their stupid 'church' doesn't fall apart?!"
Oyuki sighed. "He always has been very annoying."
"He's been more than that!" Ran muttered.
The Neptunian crown princess nodded. "Hai, that's true." She then hummed as she gazed on her own sister. "So while Ataru was with you on Okusei, he never ONCE slept with any of you? Not even Hensō-chan? I find that odd."
"Well, Darling was tempted. Even after Hensō told him that his and Lum-chan's 'marriage' really didn't adhere to Urusian mating customs," Mienai noted. "But despite their problems, Darling does see Lum as his first real and true friend. And there is a part of him that wouldn't mind being married to her. He just never liked the idea of people sticking a shank into his back to MAKE him marry Lum-chan."
"Yeah, I can see that," Benten noted. "So what HAVE you done with him?"
A giggle. "Oh, it was a wonderful little orgy after Lum-chan got her new body and she finally woke up to what had happened to her five years ago," Mienai said as she gave Benten a knowing look. "Darling was SUCH a caring and kind lover. He gave me at least four orgasms that night." As Oyuki and Benten both blushed on hearing that — Ran was intently listening to this — Mienai added, "After all, with that knowledge he inherited from Negako-san, he also knew some quite interesting tantric arts. The 'Fifty-two Mountain Temples,' they're called. He actually pushed me all the way to Step Twenty-six before I had my final orgasm." A shudder. "Oh, that felt good!"
"He got to Step Twenty-one before he made me go over the falls," Kamen added, which made Benten gargle and Oyuki's blush deepen. "Pushed Hensō to Step Twenty-four and Damasu to Step Twenty before they came. Lum didn't last pretty long."
"He's working on that part," Damasu noted.
"I see…" a flustered Oyuki breathed out.
Benten coughed a few times to clear her throat. She then perked on hearing the distant hum of an airbike. "Incoming," she said as she looked east.
The others also looked. "Oh, my! So soon?" Oyuki asked.
Approaching them now was a single-seat air bike, controlled by a soldier of the Royal Neptunian Defence Force. Landing his machine nearby, he shut it down and hopped off, walking over to kneel close to Oyuki. "My Princess, my apologies for disturbing your time with your sister and your friends, but we just received a message from the Special Committee in New York City," he declared solemnly. "You are given permission to travel once more to Earth to visit Miss Lum and her companions at their current residence. Professor Rhetor does request that you exercise discretion."
Oyuki nodded. Don't let B-Boy loose on Earth again, she told herself as she interpreted the hidden message from Chief Zed of the Men in Black. And do not go to Tomobiki. That's understandable. "Very well. Have the Chamber prepared to transport us there as soon as possible. We'll be along in about an hour, alright?"
A bow of the head. "Of course, My Princess."
An hour later, billions of kilometres away…
"Hey! It's a hot spring!"
"Yes, it does appear to be that," Oyuki mused after they had emerged — with Benten's and Kamen's hovercycles, though both knew not to be so blatant in flying them around as they were NOT in Tomobiki — from a small hut located behind a rather large and ornate hotel with an additional structure set off to one side against a hill. The warm, salty air had attracted the aliens' attention as soon as they had stepped outside. "Where exactly is this place, Mienai?" she asked her own twin.
"This is Hinata, just to the west of Yokosuka on the Miura Peninsula south of Tōkyō itself," Mienai stated as she opened her warm-suit to allow her body to adjust to the surrounding temperature. We're about forty-five kilometres south of Tomobiki…ah!" she then called out as a familiar person approached. "Keitarō-san!"
"Hey, Mienai-san!" Urashima Keitarō said as he gave her a polite smile, and then he nodded to her companions. "Kamen-san! Damasu-san! I see you brought all your sisters with you this time," he stated before he gazed on Oyuki. "Your Highness, welcome to the Hinata-sō. I'm Urashima Keitarō, the manager here. Lum-san, Hensō-san, Ataru and his sisters all live in the Annex here." He waved off to the cliff-side section of the villa. "Hiromi-san just got back from her fishing expedition now and we just had supper. If you want, we do have food for you to enjoy while you're here."
"Well, I personally can't stay long, Keitarō-san," the Neptunian princess stated. "My parents do get upset whenever I spend too much time away from home. Unlike Benten and Ran-chan here, my duties do force me to remain on Triton."
"I can understand that," Keitarō breathed out as he waved the others with him. "We have our desires and dreams…and we have our duty as well. Mine may not be as overwhelming as yours, Your Highness, but I do have my…"
"ONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN…!"
Instantly, Keitarō seemed to lean back, his knees bending down enough to allow the foot flying towards his head to miss by mere centimetres. Before Kaolla could realise that once again, she had missed the mark, Kamen's sash chain was on the move. A moment later, the young princess of Molmol was snared by her ankle and sent flying back towards the main building, splash-landing in the hot springs beyond it. "Cool off, kid!" the Fukunokami-form Avalonian snapped as she allowed her chain to wrap around her body again. "Geez! Didn't anyone ever teach you manners?!"
"She's a crown princess of her own kingdom, Kamen," Mienai stated. "A kingdom, that — unlike what Onē-sama will one day inherit — isn't even an internationally-recognised independent country; it's part of the Marshall Islands and the government there doesn't wish to expend the energy to bring it fully under their control." A sigh. "And, unlike Onē-sama, Kaolla-chan's never been taught how to behave as a princess should truly behave. Though Onē-sama has often had her own moments."
"Was I really that bad?" Oyuki asked.
"Well…"
Kamen and Benten laughed while Ran and Damasu snickered. "I assume, Kamen-san, Damasu-san, you'll want your sisters to have their own rooms here?" Keitarō asked.
"Well, right now, they're just visiting, so they can bunk with us," Kamen stated as they stepped onto the walkway leading to the Annex's front doors.
"Ah! Damasu-sempai! Mienai-sempai! Kamen-sempai!"
"Hey, Shinobu!" Kamen called out as Shinobu came up to them; the younger girl had overheard Keitarō tell Karumi that Hensō's sister "living targets" would be coming by today and she had gone out to greet them as well. "Everyone inside behavin' themselves?"
"As expected, Sempai," Shinobu stated as she fell in beside the crowd. "Naru-sempai and Motoko-sempai are still getting used to the idea of Sempai having Karumi-sempai and Taiko-sempai in their lives, especially since Taiko-sempai is willing to do all sorts of things to them to make them see what they've done to Sempai."
"What's this about?" Benten asked.
Shinobu sighed. "Sempai here is the grandson of the owner of the Hinata-sō, Urashima Hinata. Up to about a year ago, this was just a hotel. But Obā-san turned the Hinata-sō into an all-girls dorm so we could have a place to live…and then she turned around and asked her own grandson to serve as the kanrinin here."
"Oh?!" Benten then trilled before she blinked on sensing a wave of pain emit from Keitarō. "I take it some people didn't like that idea."
"Not really," Shinobu admitted. "Sempai wasn't even WARNED that this had happened when Obā-san sent a letter to him to have him come here to visit…and then Obā-san turned around and forced him to become the kanrinin while she went off on a world-wide retirement to visit every hot spring she could. She never even stayed behind to tell him or us this was going to happen." She shyly smiled as she gazed up at Keitarō. "Sempai's had his own problems, but Naru-sempai and Motoko-sempai just blew it out of proportion…and it probably wouldn't have stopped until Negako-san found a way to give Sempai real sisters in Karumi-sempai and Taiko-sempai."
"Are they like Negako-san, Tariko-san and Hiromi-san to Ataru?" Oyuki asked.
"Karumi's a tōshi like Hiromi-san," Keitarō answered. "Taiko-nuna was a tokkaebi, a very powerful magical spirit that was trapped in a family heirloom for centuries until Negako-san found a way to make her human. Or, at least, an Avalonian."
"Ah!" a strange woman's voice then called out. "I see you finally made your sisters see the light, ladies. I assume they're here to see Lum-san."
"Yeah, they're here to see her," Kamen said as Oyuki, Benten and Ran gazed on Moroboshi Hiromi. "This here's the new matriarch of Darling's clan, Moroboshi Hiromi, also known as Ryūkō Kyōrei; that's her battle-name since she's a tōshi, a special type of fighter like the Flower Youth on Noukiios are like. Her earring's the same jewel that Darling had on his person that Lum didn't care for too much…"
"But Onii-san was more than happy to make Lum-san understand there were certain lines she could never cross," Hiromi stated. "Come in, ladies. I'm sure Lum-san will be more than pleased to see you…but DO behave around Onii-san!"
The aliens jerked on hearing the warning tone in the reborn emperor's voice. Watching this, both Keitarō and Shinobu shared a grin while we…
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